The Big Red men entered Saturday's final night of competition at the 2010 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship trailing second-place Emory University by only 10.5 points.  After seven All-America swims and an eighth place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, Denison secured the men's program's seventh NCAA runner-up trophy.

The national championship went Kenyon College who ran away from the pack by the weekend.  The Lords totaled 696 points to capture their 31st consecutive national title.  Denison finished with 272 points while Emory followed with 259.5.  Fourth place went to Kalamazoo College who is coached by former DU swimmer and assistant coach, Kathy Milliken '99.

Denison overtook Emory for good in the 200 backstroke thanks to a fourth-place finish by Robert Barry (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) and a 15th place finish by Mike DeSantis (Beverly Hills, Mich./Groves).  Barry followed up his fourth-place finish in last night's 100 backstroke with a time of 1:48.22 in tonight's 200 back.

Entering the 400 freestyle relay, DU led Emory by 2.5 points and because the Eagles failed to reach the championship heat in morning preliminaries, the Big Red were assured second place barring a disqualification.  The team of Andy Catlin, Mike Barczak (Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice), Joe Katich (Toledo, Ohio/St. Francis de Sales) and Dan Thurston (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) would take the cautious route, finishing eighth in the relay with a time of 3:03.73.  Those 22 points would lock up the silver for the Big Red.

In the 100 freestyle, Barczak touched in 45.70 seconds to earn 11 points toward the Big Red's cause.  The first event of the night saw sophomore Austin Vierra (Placerville, Calif./Ponderosa) earn his second All-America citation of the meet after his 16th place finish in the 1650 freestyle.

A pair of DU swimmers also reached the consolation final of the 200 breaststroke.  Senior John Nemeth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) capped off a solid career at Denison with his eighth career All-American swim. He would place 15th with a time of 2:05.33.  Junior Jake Lewing (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) paced the Big Red in the event with a 10th place showing and a time of 2:02.36.

Denison's previous six runner-up finishes came in 1987, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2006, and 2007.  Overall, the Big Red posted 22 top-16 finishes at the four-day meet.  Thurston turned the DU's best individual finish, a second-place swim in the 400 IM on Thursday.